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Journal for the 2009-
A Narrative Account of our Season
The long, lazy days of summer are passing, the first touches of autumn are in the
air, the first meeting of Southport Stamp and Postcard Club new season is arriving
on schedule, with all the smooth well-
Each year we have one evening dedicated to Members’ displays themed around two letters of the alphabet. Each year, one letter advances up the alphabet while the other moves down, and this year the favoured two were ‘O’ and ‘K’
We learned about Ospreys and Kestrels from the world of Ornithology; we learned about Friedrich August Kekule von Stradowitz who worked out the formulation of benzine, which powered the four stroke engine developed by Nikolas August Otto. The Orange Free State and the Orange River Colony was a stop on the way East to Kedah, Kelantan and Kuala Lumpur. In a more spiritual vein, we looked at fascinating history of the Passion Play from Oberammergau, and a series of postcards from Oxford.
All told, a really OK evening!
The History of the Posts from 1700 is a broad subject indeed, admirably covered by
Mr Gaywood, starting from the very first post marks introduced when the Royal Mail
was opened to the general public by King Charles II -
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The Archives
To read the narrative Journal for any meeting, just click, and your page will open!
Our evening’s entertainment was to have included a presentation on the Victoria Cross by Past Secretary Les Johnson, but in his absence Mr Koller gave us twice as much information on ‘Birds of a Feather.’ Probably the most popular ‘exotic’ bird is the penguin, which always attracts attention; what is perhaps less well known is that there are some seventeen different species which live in the Antarctic and far south of the globe. Mr Koller displayed stamps from many countries, featuring this appealing birds. We were in rather more awe of the second part of the presentation: Birds of Prey. Falcons and Eagles are not widely known in our part of the world, but hawks, merlins, kestrels and owls certainly are. These have all featured philatelically!
For the first time in a very long time it was necessary to cancel the Club Meeting. The cause was evident to everyone who looked out of their window, or tried to cross the street. A day during which a considerable amount of snow fell resulted in serious compaction, and the formation of surfaces rather like the Cresta Run. So, rather than take too many chances, we pulled the plug.
Our visiting speaker for the evening was to have been Mr Robert Flamman, and we hope to be able to enjoy his presentation in a forthcoming programme.
Before starting our meeting this month, we observed a respectful silence in memory of two members, Mr Barry Moss, and the Ven. Colin Bedford, and the wife of another member, Mr Graham Marten, all of whom had passed away since our last meeting in December. The condolences of all the Club Members were offered to their families and friends
In view of the seriously wintry weather we experienced last month, it was a pleasant change to look at scenes and stamps from ‘South of the Equator.’ Of course, it snows and does other seasonal things in the other half of the globe, but we can pick and choose what we look at. Our members had picked and chosen very carefully, and we were treated to a little exotic warmth, starting with the stamps of the French colony in Madagascar from the earliest days in the 19th Century. Mr Koller followed, with material from South Africa celebrating the tercentenary of Jan Van Riebeeck, in 1952. A member who might care to remain anonymous exhibited some fascinating stamps from Ghana, before it was pointed out that the Equator actually runs to the south of that country, but nonetheless we enjoyed the show.
Miss Taylor treated us to an artistic tour, with issues from Australia, the Cook
Islands, South America and Antarctica. After such a long journey our collective strength
was restored by Mr Hyde, and the Health Stamps of New Zealand. Mr Kipps was delighted
to display an SG1 -
Mr Marten concluded the evening with displays of material from the Boer Republics in southern Africa, and the VRI and ERI overprints on their stamps following the end of the war.
The Norman Barlow Cup is one of the Club’s three trophies, kindly donated in memory
of one of our former members. It is competed for every third year, and requires entries
of nine or twelve pages of stamps and postal history of Great Britain, the Channel
Islands and the Isle of Man, but excluding Cinderellas and those of the smaller islands
whose postal administrations do not have recognised status. This year we were fortunate
to have four entries in this category. The entries were set out, anonymously, and
Members were invited to award points based on a number of categories, including the
arrangement and mounting of the exhibit, the range and quality of the material displayed,
the style and content of the writing-
This year’s entries featured the Stamps of King George V, the 31st Philatelic Congress of Great Britain, the Story of the Posts, and the winning entry, put up by Mr Stuttard, the Telegraph Stamps of Great Britain.
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Calendar for the 2009-
To make things clearer, we've colour coded the type of meeting:
[ ] Blue is for regular Members' Evenings,
[ ] Green is for Evenings where a visiting speaker will make a
presentation, and
[ ] Red is for the AGM. Be there, or be on the Committee next year!
1st September 2009 The Season opens with the first of our Guest Speakers for the year. Mr Cyril Defriez, from Lytham St Anne's, will blow the whistle on 'Railway Postmarks of Great Britain.'
6th October 2009 This evening is the first of our Members' Evenings for the year. The theme is entirely open, but there must be some connection with the letters 'K' and 'O' It is worth noting that in previous years there has been considerable ingenuity shown in developing these connections!
3rd November 2009 Our second Guest Speaker for the year is Mr Paul Gaywood from Preston, who will be visiting a favourite stamping ground with his presentation 'Great Britain: The History of the Posts from 1700.'
1st December 2009 We will be amazed and impressed, not just once, but twice, tonight
as two of our members give half-
5th January 2010 Our January meeting ought to be rather colourful, concentrating as it does on the blue 'Danube from the Black Forest to the Black Sea.' We welcome Mr Robert Flamman as our Speaker.
2nd February 2010 What better way to lighten a dark evening as we set off for distant parts and exotic climes as our members give displays of anything and everything philatelic from 'South of the Equator.'
2nd March 2010 This evening sees the competition for the Norman Barlow Cup, featuring
displays of material from Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man,
but excluding 'local' issues from some of the less-
6th April 2010 The 'Philatelist King' ascended the throne in May 1910. To commemorate the centenary our members' displays this evening will focus on anything to do with King George V.
4th May 2010 The Annual General Meeting. Not just the AGM, but also the Club Auction.
1st June 2010 The final meeting of the Season is our Postcard Evening. This year's theme is quite straightforward: '140 years of Postcards' when our members can show their favourite postcards, old and new.
Archive for the 2009-
The Calendar and Journal of our Meetings
Even though our previous years’ programmes are now history, it can be interesting to look back at the wide range of speakers and presentations which have both educated and entertained us.
Here is the Archive for 2009-
Click to see the Calendars and
Journals of our various Meetings
The Current Year
● 2010-
The Archives
● 2009-
● 2008-
● 2007-
● 2006-
● 2005-
King George V is widely recognised as ‘The Philatelist King’ having taken an active and personal interest in the stamps of Great Britain and the Empire, and having ensured that the Royal Collection is one of the greatest archives of philatelic history in the world. It is appropriate that our Members’ Displays, this evening, commemorated the centenary of his accession to the throne.
We were treated to a treasury of material, exhibited by no fewer than eight of our Members. The evening opened with a magnificent display from our Chairman, Mr Hyde, of the GB Commemoratives of King George V as mint singles, and also as blocks of four. This was followed by an exhibition from Miss Taylor of stamps featuring art and artists from the period, including Picasso, Matisee, Klee, Ernst, Dali and Magritte! Mr Marten showed King George stamps from southern and western Africa, and War and Victory medals awarded to his father for service in the First World War. The stories of some of his experiences reminded us of what the soldiers of the period went through. Staying in Africa for a moment, Mr Robinson explained why the high value stamps from Sierra Leone were his personal favourites.
More family war history was presented by Mr Thompson, the fortunate pocket full of coins and other metalwork which saved his Great Uncle from death or serious injury by shrapnel, reminded us of our own more fortunate times.
The controversy over the ‘Downey’ head designs led to a competition for the ‘Ideal Stamp’ sponsored by the Junior Philatelic Society, and Mr Stuttard presented a number of essays from this competition. Mr Kipps displayed a series of photographic postcards featuring cars from the ‘twenties and ‘thirties, and the evening was rounded off by a display of WAR TAX overprints from the Turks and Caicos Islands, shown by Mr Leather
May is the month when we all gather together to set the scene for the next year.
The Club’s officers are nominated, and voted upon, and the subscription set. The
theme for this year seems to be stability. All of the existing officers were happy
to continue, no-
The nitty gritty having been dealt with, Mr Hyde donned his auctioneer’s hat, and proceeded to bolster the Club’s funds; his success in doing this helps materially in keeping the subscription to its current modest level!
This meeting, the last of the 2009-
We were, indeed, treated to a wide variety.
Mr Smith opened with a range of modern cards from the part of France where he had a holiday home for a number of years. The range and quality of these certainly impressed. Mr Koller’s collection was nothing if not eclectic, with a selection of cars, cards from the independent postal administration in Jersey, the handling of mail by coach in 1838 and on board the Aquitania in 1919, to mention but few. Mr Hyde presented an extensive series from the Golden Age, just prior to the first world war, issued by the London and North Western Railway company in sets of six, at a price of 2d, featuring locomotives, tunnels, flooding at Walsall in 1886, and the creosoting of sleepers!
Mr Kipps’ cards recorded the devastating floods at Boscastle in 2004, and the launch of the Renault Magane. Mr Bretherton’s display featured the work of Henry George Walker, who produced a number of pictures of sailing barges, at Babbacombe, in around 1930.
Miss Taylor took the theme to heart, with cards from much of the 140 year period,
and including examples of cards produced from family photographs, a very popular
activity before the second world war. The evening closed with a few cards shown by
Mr Leather, each with a small story attached, such as the card sent by an American
sergeant from France in 1918, where the censor had deleted part of the message -
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